History

Originally conceived as a private residence, the
Serralves Villa and the surrounding Park were commissioned by the 2nd
Count of Vizela, Carlos Alberto Cabral (1895−1968), on the grounds of his
family’s former summer residence on the outskirts of Porto. Designed and
constructed between 1925 and 1944, the Villa is considered the most notable
example of an Art Deco building in Portugal. In 1996 it was classified as a ‘Building
of Public Interest’. In 2012, the ensemble of the architectural and natural
heritage of the Serralves Foundation was accorded the status of National
Monument.

Authorship of the Villa may be attributed, with a
certain degree of care, to the French architect Charles Siclis (1889−1944), who
played a decisive role in the project’s overall design, and José Marques da
Silva (1869−1947), responsible for Porto’s São Bento railway station and the
São João Theatre, who developed, modified and implemented it. Carlos Alberto
Cabral, Jacques Émile Ruhlmann (1879−1933), and subsequently Alfred Porteneuve
(1896−1949), the latter’s nephew and architect by training, also intervened in
the project.

Cabral and his wife Blanche Daubin moved into the
Villa in 1944, living there for only a few years. The estate was sold in 1955 to Delfim Ferreira (1888−1960), on the condition that
the property would not be subject to any alteration, a restriction that was
entirely respected. Most of its furniture was meanwhile sold at different
auctions.

In 1987 the estate was purchased from the heirs of
Delfim Ferreira by the Portuguese State as a site for a future museum of modern
art. The Villa was opened to the public that same year as a site for temporary
exhibitions of modern and contemporary art prior to the opening in 1999 of a
new museum of contemporary art designed by the architect Álvaro Siza Vieira. In
2004, Siza supervised the restoration of the Villa and its interiors. Offering
spaces for exhibitions and artists' projects as part of the programme of the
Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, the Serralves Villa is, for its
architecture and design, a museum in and of itself.